Guards Wendell Mitchell and TJ Starks led a second-half resurgence as Texas A&M rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit for a 68-59 victory over Missouri in a matchup of Southeastern Conference also-rans Saturday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Mitchell scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half and Sparks added 15 off the bench for the Aggies (9-13, 2-8 SEC), who snapped their losing streak at three games. Forward Josh Nebo, who had recorded two double-doubles for the Aggies in the last three games, missed the game with a knee injury.
Guard Javon Pickett led the Tigers (11-11, 2-8 SEC) with 15 points. Mizzou was without guard Mark Smith (12.6 ppg), who missed his fifth game with a foot injury.
After a cold-shooting first half, the Aggies began clicking behind Mitchell in the second and overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to take a 46-44 lead -- their first since a 5-4 advantage in the opening minutes -- on guard/forward Savion Flagg's 3-pointer with 7:26 left in the game.
The Aggies, who were 15-of-25 shooting in the second half, eventually built a 10-point lead, 57-47, on Flagg's second triple with 3:57 remaining and went up by 12 on Sparks' free throws with 2:33 remaining. They led by 11 entering the final minute.
Missouri led all but 13 seconds of a first half in which both teams struggled from the field. The Tigers were only 8-of-23 shooting through the first 13 minutes to the Aggies' 5-of-14, but warmed up to 13-of-30 (43.3 percent) to lead 30-21 at the break.
The Tigers were up by double digits at 30-18 after Pickett's 3-pointer with 37 seconds left in the first half, but the Aggies got their deficit down to 30-21 on Starks' 3-pointer just three seconds before the buzzer.
The point total matched the lowest first-half production of the season for the Aggies, who finished 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) for the period overall but only 2 of 9 on 3-pointers.
--Field Level Media
Texas A&M | Missouri | |
Wendell Mitchell 20 | Scoring | Javon Pickett 15 |
TJ Starks 3 | Assists | Xavier Pinson 6 |
Christian Mekowulu 10 | Rebounds | Kevin Puryear 7 |
Christian Mekowulu 5 | Free Throws Made | Jordan Geist 2 |
Brandon Mahan 3 | Steals | Xavier Pinson 3 |
Brandon Mahan 1 | Blocks | Reed Nikko 2 |